Loughborough University project interested in ex-DWP staff - participants needed! 

Dear Rightsnet members,

Have you worked for the DWP in the past? 

Myself (Dr Kayleigh Garthwaite, University of Birmingham) and colleagues (Dr Mark Monaghan, Loughborough University, and Dr Jo Ingold, University of Leeds) are interested in your reasons for leaving the DWP, and if / how these might have been affected by the roll out of Universal Credit.

One of the purposes of the project is to examine the impact of the negative evidence surrounding the roll out of UC and how this was managed by former employees of the DWP.  It is hoped that this work will contribute to an understanding of how the evidence-base for policies might be used and improved, the difficulties of implementing controversial policies, and to give some insight into the often hidden world of the policy process.

Taking part in an interview should take up around an hour of your time. All of the information collected will be kept strictly confidential. You will not be able to be identified in any reports or publications. The results of the research are likely to be published in academic journals and the researchers can supply you with copies when they are published, if you would like. The research is funded by Loughborough University School of Social Political and Geographical Studies and runs from March 2018 to February 2019.

If you would like any further information, or are interested in taking part, please contact me on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or on 0121 414 4954.

Thanks very much!

Kayleigh

If anyone is ex-DWP or knows any other ex-DWP friends or colleagues, please do get in touch with Dr Kayleigh Garthwaite.  Her project has been slightly delayed by industrial action within the Higher Education sector, but she is very keen to interview people who have recently worked for DWP, and is particularly short of male interviewees and people from non-Jobcentre roles.

I participate in Kayleigh’s last project in which she researched health inequalities in my home town of Stockton-On-Tees, and her book Hunger Pains based on her 2 years volunteering in a Food Bank has won a major social policy book prize.  I can vouch for her approachability, dedication to social justice and objectivity of her reporting.